This is where they need to get the top brass at FFA jetting into town and joining in the discussions. I know O'Rourke was up here recently but yeah for something this major you want Gallop and Lowey having discussion with the Qld State Govt as well as BCC.

This is where they need to get the top brass at FFA jetting into town and joining in the discussions. I know O'Rourke was up here recently but yeah for something this major you want Gallop and Lowey having discussion with the Qld State Govt as well as BCC.

Problem is that G and L have screwed up everything else they've touched.

The QRU has been working closely with the Queensland government and Brisbane City Council to decide how Ballymore will evolve in the future, specifically as a multi-use facility that will serve not just rugby but other sports and the general public.

But it has needed to have the weight of the ?national body behind the project and indications are that Castle is strongly supportive of it. ?I?m meeting with the Queensland Reds tomorrow and Ballymore is very high on the agenda for discussion,? Castle told The Australian. ?We will be standing alongside the Reds in all of their conversations with the (state) government ?because it?s an extremely important venue for rugby and for rugby in Queensland.?

The ground, which has been used as Queensland?s rugby headquarters since 1967, was once where the Reds played all their home Super Rugby matches. But the site has grown outdated and is draining the QRU?s resources.

The hope is that Ballymore can become a home to several sporting codes, although any such deal would presumably have to recognise the primacy of rugby in bringing the ground to its present state.

?It?s got to stay as a main stadium and high performance option for rugby,? said Castle. ?So that?s No 1. But I think there are some successful models, particularly AAMI Park, with the Rebels, the Victory and the Storm all cohabiting together. They play in competing competitions so there is no risk of anyone stealing game plans or knowledge, so that seems to make sense.

?But it allows you to build a genuinely world-class facility but spread the value over three codes instead of one code having it on their own. But whether that is as head tenant and support tenants ? that?s a discussion we will be ?having with the government. But certainly being sensible about it and making sure that absolutely it is the home of Queensland rugby but making it a commercial ?proposition.?

Queensland rugby officials have been forced to wait on the outcome of the state election but since then have been pressing ahead. ?We met only 10 days ago with one of the Queensland ministers about Ballymore,? said QRU chairman Damian Frawley yesterday. ?But we now need to accelerate the ?discussion.?

Meanwhile, the future of the Brisbane Global Tens will be ?discussed in coming weeks after the two-day tournament on Friday and Saturday attracted a total of 30,760 spectators. Tournament organiser Rachael Carroll, the CEO of Duco Australia, said it would have to be resolved whether the event continued and, if it does, whether it will continue in Brisbane as a lead-in to Super Rugby.

?We?ve got to have a conversation with our partners about what we do in the future. Is it a ?format change, is it a tweak, what does it look like going forward?? Carroll said.

Perth has indicated its interest in staging the tournament, as has Auckland, but it may not be so much a question of where the tournament is held as when.

A number of Super Rugby coaches speculated that a Tens tournament would be a perfect solution to the problem of the June Test window. At present, all Super Rugby comes to a halt in the southern hemisphere while the Wallabies, All Blacks, Springboks and Pumas face off against northern hemisphere opponents each June. But by moving the Brisbane Tens into that window, the ?franchises could have a workable solution to the problems of keeping their players engaged while the Tests are being played.